cigarette



(Men L. GINTER.

UIGARETTE. No. 251,340. Patented Dec. 20,1881.

INVENTOR zlyu,

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS GINTER, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

CIGARETTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,340, dated December 20, 1881.

Application filed June 30, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS GINTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinOigarettes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to cigarettes and the novelty consists in the construction, form, and adaptation of the same for convenient use and handling, as will be fully described hereinafter, and specifically pointed out in the claim.

The object of the invention is to produce a cigarette which will, because of its treatment and form, be convenient in use between the lips, more conveniently carried in packages, retain the strength and aroma or flavor, and be more closely packed for transportation.

In the use of cigarettes great inconvenience and discomfort have arisen from the fact that particles of tobacco from the central portions are drawn into the month by the suction employed in smoking, and this fault accrues more markedly when fine tobacco is used. It is also an established fact that round cigarettes, packed in paper parcels, themselves round, lose the valuable flavor of the tobacco and its strength, due to the interstices between the cigarettes themselves and between the cigarettes and the package-wrapper, and round cigarettes cannot be packed without more or less of space, being thus detrimentaL.

To avoid these difficulties, and to form a package which may conveniently be carried in the waistcoat-pocket without tearing, break ing, or wearing the cigarettes, because of the friction of the outer coat, I form a cigarette and press the same into a flat or rectangular shape, and in this form they may be packed or placed in flat parcels, ten or more in a parcel. By this construction I am enabled to use the finer particles of the best brands of tobacco, which would otherwise be wasted or become less valuable, and which could not be used in cigarettes if round in form. The sides, approaching each other because of the pressure, force the particles into more intimate contact, and they interlock with each other in such close contact that the danger or liability to be sucked into the mouth of the user is obviated. They pack closely together, and the wrapper of the package hugs the ends tightly, leaving no spaces or interstices between them, or them and the package-wrapper. The form of the end corresponds more nearly with the normal and natural plane of the lips, and the lip-compression prevents even the small particles of tobacco at the month end of the cigarette from being displaced in use. The package of ten or more is received snugly in the vestpocket, and the flat form allows it to hug the form of the person carrying it, and the protruding ends do not become damaged by the friction of the coat. Added to all these advantages which accrue to a flat cigarette over a round one is the ease with which the first one, or in fact any subsequent one, may be taken from the package without injury, while in round packages it is impossible to grasp both sidesofa cigarette with the thumb and finger at the same time, and the pressed cigarette is not so quickly consumed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of my cigarettes, and Fig. 2 a package thereof.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a single cigarette, and B a package of the same. The cigarette is pressed after the wrapper has been placed around the tobacco, and is in an approximately round form. After pressingit assumes a flattened rectangular form with approximately abrupt or slightly rounded corners or edges.

I am well aware that cigarettes have been formed square and round, and these forms I do not seek to cover in the application 5 but What I claim as new is.-

As a new article of manufacture, the cigarette herein described, having plain flat sides 5 and rounded edges, formed by pressing from the round cigarette, and having the particles of tobacco interlocked and firmly compressed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LE WIS GINTER.

Witnesses GEO. L. Brneoon, E, VICTOR WILLIAMS.

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